Report Alleges Alice In Chains Misused Millions of Dollars in COVID Grant Money
It’s hard to believe, but we’re almost five years removed from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut everything down and brought the entire live music industry to its knees. As you may recall, in the wake of mandated closures and stay-at-home orders, artists and venues received funds to stay afloat from the U.S. federal government through a program called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). It sounds like a reasonable thing to do at the federal level, but a recent report over at Business Insider found numerous instances where that grant program may have been taken advantage of and misused by very wealthy individuals. Shocking, I know…
According to the report, which was based on thousands of documents that the publication obtained and reviewed, musicians obtained the funding through “loan-out companies — corporate entities used to handle the business of touring.” And while famous rappers and other artists were seen using the funds for everything from extravagant birthday parties and designer clothes, iconic grunge outfit Alice In Chains was directly named in the report for receiving $4.1 million through the grant.
Of the $4.1 million they received, $3.4 million went to guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Inez. And while Cantrell and Kinney both got $1.4 million, no information was provided as to how much — if anything — vocalist William DuVall received. The report had this to say about Alice In Chains’ SVOG distribution.
“Like other grant applicants, AIC Entertainment — the three band members’ touring business — had to tell the government only that the money was ‘necessary.’ But the month before they took their grant payments, the band members recorded about $48 million in income from selling the copyrights on their catalog. They made hundreds of thousands of dollars more from merchandise sales and other profit distributions in 2022.
“The band spent some money to pay its staff. It paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to sound-equipment-rental firms, videographers, and managers. But the precarious nature of working in the live-entertainment business didn’t change for some of its employees. Scott Dachroeden, a guitar tech and tour photographer who had worked with the band for years, received a cancer diagnosis in late 2022. The band, which records show did not spend grant money on benefits like health insurance, circulated a GoFundMe page on Twitter.
“He has no health insurance and now cannot work to pay his bills,” the page said. The band’s lead singer said on Facebook that Alice in Chains helped out behind the scenes, but a person familiar with the situation said that Dachroeden didn’t get much, if any, money from the band during the pandemic and that after his diagnosis, the band connected Dachroeden with a charity that helps with medical bills. Dachroeden died soon after his diagnosis.
“Alice in Chains‘ publicists and manager didn’t respond to requests for comment.’
That last part is particularly worrisome here. If they created a GoFundMe to help someone who was dying and the money generated didn’t go to that person or their family, that’s bad. If they pocketed the funds themselves then that’s even worse.
As for what comes out of this report, it’s still anyone’s guess. This isn’t the first time government money has been mismanaged and miscounted and it certainly won’t be the last.
